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Dr. Helen Burns receives 2024 Projektenmacher Award

Dr. Helen Burns receives 2024 Projektenmacher Award

by Public Relations | November 27, 2024

LATROBE, PA – Dr. Helen K. Burns, professor and the Rev. Owen Roth, O.S.B., Inaugural Director of Nursing, received the 14th annual Projektenmacher Award on Nov. 21 during Saint Vincent College’s annual Founders’ Day Honors Convocation in the Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica.

The Projektenmacher Award recognizes initiatives that, in the spirit of founder Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, bring vision to reality through hard work and perseverance. Burns received the award from Father Paul Taylor, O.S.B., C’87, S’91, president of Saint Vincent College.

“It's humbling to me to consider that I've been given a chance at this point in my career to continue to have purpose, display my passion and do what I love every day,” Burns said. “This [award] is not just a recognition of my efforts, but a testament to those who believed in me and who continue to support me—my nursing colleagues, my colleagues across this campus, the staff who helped me when I asked, the students who have seen the value of being here at Saint Vincent and the unwavering understanding, love and tolerance of my family and friends.”

Saint Vincent’s nursing program, part of the Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing, has grown rapidly under Burns’ direction. The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program enrolled its first cohort of students in August 2024. A Direct Entry –Master of Science in Nursing program was approved by the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing in July 2024 and will start in summer 2025. The department continues to support the Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice program offered collaboratively by the College and the Excela Health School of Anesthesia.

“Many people thought it impossible for Saint Vincent to have an approved nursing program in 2024. They said that there was not enough time. Those individuals, however, did not recognize the tenacity and work ethic of Dr. Burns,” Father Paul said. “She oversaw the development of a full nursing curriculum; the creation of a syllabi for every course; the writing of numerous required manuals, handbooks and materials; and the recruitment of an outstanding advisory council.”

Father Paul paused and smiled. “What is next, Dr Burns?” he said. “You appear to be the ultimate projektenmacher.”

Burns joined Saint Vincent College in April 2023. Previously, she was senior vice president and chief nursing officer with Excela Health System, assistant dean for clinical education at the University of Pittsburgh and deputy secretary for health planning and assessment for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Burns served on the board of directors for the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association and Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders, was co-chair of the Nursing Committee of the Pennsylvania Center for Health Careers and was on the steering committee of the Pennsylvania Action Coalition. She was a member of the board of trustees at Excela Health System and Armstrong County Memorial Hospital and is a board member of St. Anne Home and Elizabeth Seton Memory Care Center.

A graduate of the Latrobe Area Hospital School of Nursing, Burns received her BSN from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She earned a master’s degree in medical-surgical nursing as a pulmonary clinical nurse specialist and a doctorate in nursing at the University of Pittsburgh.

 

Dr. Helen Burns and Father Paul Taylor posing with the 2024 Projecktenmacher Award she received at the Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica.

Dr. Helen Burns receives the 2024 Projecktenmacher Award from Father Paul Taylor, O.S.B., C’87, S’91, president of Saint Vincent College.

 

 

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